Safety First
by ficwriterjet
Summary: Written for a challenge over at the LJ group 'spanking world'. Takes place mid-way through season one. A new case involving BDSM causes some drama between Lucifer and Chloe. WARNING: consensual erotic M/F spanking AND consensual punishment F/M spanking.


**Author's Note:** Written for the picture challenge over at the LJ site spanking_world. Inspired by picture number 15. It's a fanfic for the show Lucifer, and it takes place sometime in the middle of season one after Lucifer finds out he can be shot, but before he finds out why.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own any of these characters, and I'm not making any money from this story.

 **Warning:** Consensual M/F erotic spanking  & consensual F/M punishment spanking.

SAFETY FIRST

Chloe pulled up in front of Lux and went to find Lucifer. For any other case, she would have simply called him to meet her at the crime scene, but since this murder happened three blocks away at a competitor's bar, she thought it wise to collect him personally. She didn't want to show up at the crime scene and find him already harassing the witnesses and mucking up the evidence.

Lux was still open at 1:30am, and the front door man knew her well enough by now to just open the door when she showed up. The dance floor was starting to thin out at this late hour on a Thursday, and Lucifer wasn't at his piano or the bar. Chloe spotted Maze, and went to the bar.

"Were is Lucifer? We have a case."

With an unpleasant smile that exuded animosity for the detective, Maze pointed to the ceiling, indicating Lucifer's penthouse suite above the bar.

"Thanks," Chloe muttered and went to the elevator.

The elevator doors binged as they opened to Lucifer's living room. The man in question was with two women, and all three of them were in various states of undress. Lucifer was leaning against the bar while a blond woman kissed his mouth and a brunet woman kissed his chest. Chloe quickly slapped her hand over her eyes, but there was no getting rid of the image that was now burned into her brain. She cleared her throat loudly and called out, "Lucifer?"

"Detective," he said happily. "Would you care to join in the fun?" He turned to the blond woman and said, "You don't mind, do you Angela?"

"The more the merrier," Angela said.

An exasperated huff came out of Chloe, and she said firmly, "We have a case."

"I'm a bit busy at the moment," he said, "Rain check?"

"There was a murder at that night club down the street. The one with the big pink sign."

"The Palace?" Lucifer said with interest, standing up straight. "Well why didn't you say so?" He gave Angela an apologetic smile and said, "We'll have to continue this later tonight. You girls keep each other company while I'm gone. Don't do anything really naughty until I get back to watch."

The women both whined in protest.

"Now, now, ladies. Duty calls." He walked towards his partner.

Chloe sighed. "Pants would be good."

He looked down at himself and said, "Right. Now where did I put…" He turned and saw Angela holding them up for him. "Ah, there they are."

# # #

During the very short three-block car ride to the crime scene, Chloe was regaled with stories about The Palace stealing customers from Lux even though, according to Lucifer, Lux was clearly the better nightclub. Lux had better music, better dancers, better bartenders, and an all around happier atmosphere. He couldn't wait to get behind the scenes at the club to see what nefarious activities were going on that encouraged people to go there.

After parking Chloe turned to him and said, "We're not here to get tips on running a night club. We're here to solve a murder."

He waved a hand at her as he got out. "Yes, yes, of course we're here to solve a murder, but I'm quite capable multitasking." When she just stared at him he added, "Ask Angela if you don't believe me."

"No thanks," Chloe muttered as she flashed her badge to the cop out front, and went into the club.

As they were led through the club, Lucifer pointed out all the lesser qualities that The Palace had to offer compared to Lux. Then when they were led down a flight of stairs to a door that said 'employees only', he rubbed his hands together with anticipation.

"Care to venture a guess, detective? Gambling hall? Money laundering facility? Drug distribution center?" He snapped his fingers and said, "Maybe it's an exotic dining experience. You know, one of those places where they serve rare animal dishes."

Chloe opened the door without responding and walked in. The room was clearly a dungeon for BDSM players. There were a variety of implements on the wall, a spanking bench, a large cross, and a massage table. There also happened to be two dead bodies in the room. A woman dressed as a dominatrix by the door had several stab wounds in the chest and a woman bound in intricate ropes suspended from the ceiling had a gunshot wound in the head.

"A dungeon?" Lucifer scoffed. "But that's not exciting at all! People are leaving Lux for this nonsense?"

One of the uniform cops who had beat them to the crime scene got up from where he was taking pictures of the second victim and said, "Apparently people don't come here for the dungeon itself." He handed a business card inside a clear plastic bag to Chloe, and Lucifer examined it over her shoulder. "They come to see her." He pointed to the card, and then gestured to the dead dominatrix.

"Mistress Wren," Lucifer read off the card. He looked at the cop and said, "Not Mistress Wren from New York?"

"That's the one," the cop said.

"You know her?" Chloe asked.

"Not personally, no, but I know of her," Lucifer said. "She's quite famous. She was in over a dozen films. Maze is a fan. She'll be extremely disappointed to hear that the mistress was in town and got killed before they could exchange notes."

Chloe focused on the cop and asked, "What do we know so far?"

"The bodies were found about half an hour ago, and from preliminary examination, the time of death for both victims is about an hour ago." He pointed to hanging woman and said, "Gunshot wound to the head, execution style. The blood spatter on the wall indicates that she was shot right here." He gestured to Mistress Wren and said, "She was stabbed in the heart several times, most likely by someone that knew what he was doing, because she bled out in a matter of seconds."

"Security cameras?" Chloe asked

The cop shook his head. "No. This room isn't even supposed to exist at the club. No cameras in here, and none in the hall. But there are three upstairs in the main bar, so we might get lucky." He pointed towards the door and said, "But there's another exit down the hall, so it's just as likely that the murderer came in through the back ally, and there's no camera out there."

"Any ID on the second victim?" Chloe said.

"Not yet. We're running finger prints." He pointed to a laptop sitting beside a duffel bag on the floor. "And that belongs to Mistress Wren. It looks like she kept a list of appointments in there. There aren't any full names, but she referred to this client as Patty."

"Who found the bodies?"

The cop gestured to a distraught looking woman in the corner of the room. It was clear that she was a waitress from the 'uniform' she wore. A short black skirt and tight white tee shirt that had a large pink logo of 'The Palace' on her boobs.

Chloe nodded and handed the business card in the evidence bag back to the cop. She and Lucifer walked over to the woman who was currently dabbing at her running mascara with a wad of tissues.

"Hi," Chloe said to her gently, "I'm Detective Decker, and this is my partner Lucifer. What's your name?"

"Skyler Strauss," the woman said, "But everyone calls me Sky."

"Alright, Sky," Chloe said, "Could you please tell us what happened?"

"My break is at twelve thirty, and a lot of the staff use this exit to get outside and have a smoke break. Especially if any of the clients are getting handsy, because Derek guards the stairs all night."

She gestured to a tall buff black man who looked very much like a stereotypical bouncer. "So I waved at Derek, came down the stars, and saw the door to this room open. None of us are supposed to ever go in this room, and the door has always been closed when I passed it before, but tonight…" She looked over at the dead dominatrix and shuddered. "…tonight the door was ajar, and I…" Her eyes darted to the left, away from the dead body. "… I couldn't help sneaking a peek." Sky shook her head and closed her eyes. "I screamed when I saw the dead bodies, and Derek came running."

"Was anyone else in the hallway?" Chloe asked.

"No."

"Alright, thank you for…"

"Hold on a minute," Lucifer interrupted. "I don't think she's being entirely honest."

Chloe looked at him, and then back at the waitress. Sky's eyebrows furrowed in nervous anticipation, making her look guilty.

Lucifer leaned in and said with a grin, "What are you hiding? What dirty little secret are you keeping from us?"

Sky bit her lip and shook her head.

"A complicated one," Lucifer said with a raised eyebrow. "Come now," he said, gently cajoling her to be honest. "You can tell me. What hidden desires are bottled up in that pretty little head of yours?"

She struggled to remain silent for a few seconds and then said, "It has nothing to do with the case. It's stupid."

He clasped her hand in his. "Why don't you let me be the judge of that. I know you want to tell me. I certainly want to hear it."

"I wanted to ask Mistress Wren to have a session with me," she admitted. Once Sky started, she couldn't stop talking. "I've known about the dungeon for a while now. I've seen all of Mistress Wren's movies, so I recognized her in the club a couple of months ago even though she was wearing regular clothes. I followed her to the stairs that night, and put two and two together. When I take a break, I always listen at the door, to try and hear what kind of session she's having, but the room is mostly soundproof, so I could never hear much more than a couple of muffled thuds and yelps."

Sky bit her lip and muttered, "I can't believe I just told you all that."

"Nothing to be ashamed of," Lucifer patted her hand before letting go. He took a business card out of his suit pocket, and wrote a number on the back of it before handing it to her. "This is the number for a well respected Mistress here in L.A. Tell her Lucifer sent you, and she'll help you get what you need."

Sky looked at him through her lashes and said, "I usually prefer a male Dom, I was only thinking about Mistress Wren because she's famous. Are you dominant?"

He gave her a lascivious smile, "For you? Absolutely."

"Lucifer," Chloe hissed with annoyance, before looking at Sky. "Did you ever see the Mistress in the bar again?"

"A few times, but always in street clothes, never in her leather outfit."

"What about the other victim? Have you ever seen her before."

Sky shook her head.

"Okay," Chloe gave Sky one of her business cards and said, "If you think of anything else that might help with the case, give me a call."

She started to move away, and when Lucifer stayed to talk to Sky instead of following her, she tugged him away by the elbow.

"Call me," Lucifer said as he was pulled across the room to question the bouncer, Derek.

The only thing they learned from questioning the large man was that no one had gone down the stairs for at least two hours prior to Sky going down, which meant the killer had to have used the back entrance.

After they'd talked to him, they were led back upstairs and down the hall to an office. A pudgy middle aged white man sat behind a desk. He appeared to be sweating even though the air conditioning was running at full blast. As soon as he saw Lucifer he scowled.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the man yelled at Lucifer. "Come to gloat?"

Lucifer rolled his eyes, "No, I'm here to help solve a murder."

The man behind the desk simply continued to scowl, but this time with a hint of confusion.

Lucifer gestured to Chloe and said, "This is Detective Decker. She's here to ask you some questions about the two murder victims in the basement, and I'm her civilian consultant." Lucifer looked at Chloe and gestured to the man behind the desk, "And this is Clint Golden, the proprietor of this sub par establishment, and all around smelly little person."

"Not helpful," Chloe muttered, and then walked up to Clint. "What can you tell me about the dungeon downstairs?"

"Nothing until my lawyer shows up. I've already called him."

Lucifer sighed and said, "We're not interested in whatever petty laws or city codes you've broken by having an unauthorized dungeon in your establishment. We're trying to solve a murder."

Clint bent his head to look down at his desk and was silent a few moments before coming to a decision. "Sarah is my cousin," he finally said.

"Sarah?"

"Mistress Wren," he clarified, "Her real name is Sarah Golden."

"That beautiful women is related to you?" Lucifer asked in shock. "I find that hard to believe."

"Yeah, well I don't care what you believe," Clint snapped. "She's my uncle's daughter." He slumped down in his chair, looking defeated. "She _was_ my uncle's daughter."

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Chloe said softly. "I'm going to do everything I can to figure out who did this."

"Yes," Lucifer agreed, "We'll find the culprit and see him or her punished."

"Can you think of anyone who would want Sarah dead?" Chloe asked.

Clint nodded. "Sarah had a stalker in New York. About six months ago she called and asked me if she could stay with me for a while here in L.A. Her parents are from New York, but they'd cut her off years ago when they found out about her lifestyle. I'm pretty much the only relative she still has any contact with. We've never been close, but I didn't hesitate to let her stay with me, because she's family."

"When she moved in, she told me all about her stalker. In New York she'd filed quite a few police reports, and she had a restraining order, but the guy kept finding ways around the law to harass her. Eventually she started to fear for her life, and decided to move. So she laid low at my house for a couple of months. When her stalker didn't reappear, she felt safe enough to move into her own place, but we bought it under my name, with her money as an added precaution."

"Then about three months ago she decided to go back to work, but Mistress Wren is much too well known, so she created another pseudonym, and started seeing new clients. I set up my store room for her, so she'd have security around if anyone tried to get to her."

He looked down at his desk and said, "But it looks like that didn't do any good." He pulled a file out of his desk and handed it to Chloe. "This is everything I have on the stalker. His name is Robert Blyth. I'm sure the cops in New York have a lot more on him."

Over the next half an hour, Chloe talked to a few more witnesses, put out a 'BOLO' for Robert Blyth, and gave directions to the uniform cops to question the bar patrons about the evening. Around three in the morning, she drove Lucifer back to Lux for the night. There wasn't much more to do until the autopsy reports came back, along with identification for the second woman.

# # #

The next morning at nine when Chloe got to the office, Lucifer was nowhere to be found. By the time she'd checked both autopsy reports, and the information from Mistress Wren's computer, it was almost ten.

Just as Chloe was about to call Lucifer, the lab called with identification on the second victim. Patricia Ellis' husband had reported her missing first thing this morning. Chloe jotted down the husband's address, and went to pick up Lucifer on her way to question him.

Lux was empty at this hour, but someone was always stationed at the front door. Chloe went straight to the elevator and went to Lucifer's suite. The doors swung open to an even more unsettling image than the night before. Lucifer was sitting on his piano bench, fully dressed in his suit, while the waitress Sky was draped across his lap wearing nothing but a bra and panties. His right hand gently cupped her throat while his left hand slapped down onto her mostly exposed ass. She gasped and he slapped her again.

Chloe stood frozen in place and stared. A rush of emotions hit her, and she couldn't decide which one to go with, surprise, jealousy, or irritation.

As if feeling her eyes on him, Lucifer looked to the side to see her standing there. He gave her a smile, and then held his finger to his lips, indicating she should remain silent. He focused back on Sky, and groped her rear end as he spoke. "That's enough of a warm up. I've laid out six different implements on my bed. I want you to pick out three of them, take your panties off, and then bend yourself over the end of the bed and wait for me." He let go of her neck, and gave her rear another firm slap, "Off you go."

Sky rushed off to the bedroom without looking back. Once she was out of the living room, Lucifer went over to the elevator, stepped in with Chloe, and pushed the button for the main floor.

Once the doors swished shut, Lucifer said, "Did you like what you saw, Detective?"

"No!" Chloe protested, much too loudly, and then cleared her throat. "Of course not."

"Sounds to me like you're jealous. I'd be more than happy to put you over my knee, any time you like."

She blushed and scowled at him. "If anyone deserves a spanking, it's you. How many times have I told you not to consort with the witnesses?"

"I've lost count." He took a step closer to her and said, "You know, Detective, I'm perfectly happy on either side of the equation." The doors to the elevator slid open to the main floor, but both of them stayed in the elevator. "I'd let you spank me if you asked nicely."

They both heard a snort of laugher, and turned to see Maze watching them. Lucifer smiled at her and said, "Maze can attest to my enjoyment as a top and as a bottom."

"He's happy either way, as long as it ends in sex," she said as the elevator doors slid shut again.

"There, you see."

Chloe shook her head, shocked yet again by his lack of shame, and uninhibited honesty.

His brow suddenly furrowed and he muttered to himself, "Although, with my recent bout of mortality, I'm not sure if I would enjoy the other side of things nearly as much as I used to."

Deciding to forcefully ignore what she'd just seen, Chloe said, "I came because we have a lead on the case. You do remember the case, don't you?"

"I'm cursed with exceptional memory skills." After a short pause, he said, "Do tell. What new information has come to light?"

She told him the things they'd figured out so far, and ended with the fact that she was going to interview Patricia's husband. "I thought you'd like to come with me to question him."

Lucifer frowned and looked up towards his suite before focusing back on Chloe. "I'm afraid I'll have to sit this one out. It wouldn't be right to leave Sky half done. But I'll meet you back at the precinct in about an hour, and you can fill me in on what you've learned."

Feeling a new rush of jealousy, Chloe nodded, pushed the button to open the elevator doors, and muttered, "Fine."

# # #

Patricia's bereft husband wasn't of much use to Chloe's case. He knew all about his wife's relationship with Mistress Wren, and had the emails to prove that he accepted and approved of the time they spent together. He didn't know of anyone who disliked his wife, let alone anyone who would want her dead.

Chloe went back to the precinct, and found the case files she'd requested from New York on the stalker, Robert Blyth. It was a large stack, and after an initial glance, he became her number one suspect in this case. He had three restraining orders against him from three different women. He had two domestic disturbance charges, one of which had been dropped. He'd been arrested for assault several years ago and he'd been arrested, but not convicted, for soliciting a prostitute.

She'd also looked up his credit records, and found that Robert had used a credit card to buy an airplane ticket to Los Angeles two months ago. After that his credit record simply stopped, which meant he was smart enough to use cash after arriving.

While she was looking through the files, Lucifer finally showed up. After she caught him up to speed on the case, he said, "Alright, what's the next step?"

She stood up and grabbed a couple of pictures of Robert out of the file. "Now, we canvass the neighborhood, and ask around while we show his picture. Maybe some of the locals have seen him." She handed one of the pictures to Lucifer.

# # #

Five hours later, not one person they'd talked to recognized Robert's picture. Chloe could tell Lucifer was getting bored, because he'd started wandering off and chatting up women at every stop instead of showing Robert's picture and asking questions.

Disheartened that they hadn't found anything, Chloe looked at her watch and said, "It's almost five o'clock, let's call it a night."

"Thank Dad," Lucifer muttered, and then snipped, "When I decided to help you solve murders, I thought it was understood that I would only be involved in the less boring parts of the job."

"Most police work is boring."

"Yes, so you should only call me when something is interesting."

"I didn't call you, you came to the precinct. I came by this morning to see if you wanted to interview the husband with me. You didn't have to help this afternoon."

After a short pause, Lucifer smiled and said, "Well it wasn't all bad, I did get six phone numbers." He pulled some slips of paper out of his suit jacket to show her.

She shook her head, but couldn't stop her lips from turning up at the corners at his enthusiasm. She dropped him off at the precinct and headed for home.

# # #

When Lucifer got to Lux, he went straight to the bar, and waived Maze over to him. Lux wasn't crowded this early in the evening, but there were a few customers. Maze set a drink in front of a woman at the other end of the bar and then arrived with a drink for Lucifer, which he downed in one gulp.

"Bad day?" she asked over the music.

"Is it that obvious?" He tapped his glass and she poured him another.

"Would a Brandy help?" Maze gestured to the women sitting at the other end of the bar.

He considered it for a few seconds, and then shook his head. "Maybe later." He sat down, and sipped at his drink. "What I'd really like is a better way to catch a man named Robert Blyth. Preferably a way that doesn't cause excessive boredom."

"Who's Robert Blyth?"

Over the next few minutes, Lucifer told her all about the case, ending with the distasteful roaming around the city and asking strangers if they'd seen the man.

Maze tilted her head to the side, and said, "You could lure him out."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"Easy." Maze said. "He's obsessed with Mistress Wren, right? So get on the Internet and slam her on all the BDSM sites you can find. In big capital letters say you can attest to the fact that that Mistress Maze is ten times better than that hack Mistress Wren, and if anyone wants proof, you can email them an address."

Lucifer thought that over for a few moments and then said to himself, "Use you as bait…" He smiled and said, "We'll get hundreds of emails. Maybe thousands."

She grinned. "Let them all come. I can play with everyone who isn't Robert, and you can pick his face out of the crowd of subs waiting in line."

He grinned back at her. "That's brilliant, Maze. Let's do it."

# # #

By one o'clock in the morning, Lux was more crowded than normal. Lucifer had posted a couple of guards at the stairs leading up to his suite with strict orders to let no one up, and then he personally escorted each sub in the elevator to his suite where they had fifteen minutes alone with Maze.

After sending over twenty subs home with smiles on their faces, Lucifer spotted Robert lurking at the bar and glancing at the elevator. With a huge smile, Lucifer imagined the look on Chloe's face when he told her that he'd drawn out the suspect. He got out his phone to call her, but then thought better of it. Wouldn't it be better to get a confession out of him first? And Chloe never did let him fully punish the people they caught. He put his phone away and walked up to the bar.

"I've watched you glancing at the elevator," Lucifer said in a seductive voice. "I assume you're here to see Mistress Maze, but you're too nervous to take that leap. Am I right?"

Robert gave Lucifer a fake smile and said, "How observant of you." He finished off his drink and said, "Yeah, you're right. I want to see the woman who thinks she's better than Mistress Wren."

"Oh, she doesn't just think she's better," Lucifer corrected. "She is better. Torturing people in hell for thousands of years probably has something to do with it."

Robert's face contorted in rage for just a moment, before it settled into a look of determination. "How do I get in to see her?" he asked.

Finding the man distasteful, and wanting to get him alone, Lucifer looked at his watch and said, "You're in luck. Her most recent session should be down any moment, and then I'll take you up to see her." He gestured for the man to follow him and said, "We can wait by the elevator."

Once they were standing side by side waiting, Lucifer said, "Are you a fellow dominant, a submissive, a switch perhaps?"

"I'm no submissive," Robert said.

"Then why the interest in Mistress Maze or Mistress Wren?"

Before Robert could answer, the elevator binged, and a woman with a smile on her face stepped out. Lucifer smiled at the woman, but noticed that Robert was glaring daggers at her. Lucifer stepped into the elevator and said, "Shall we?"

Robert stepped in, and within seconds, the doors opened to Lucifer's suite. But his usual living room furniture had been shoved aside to make room for Maze's specialized furniture, equipment, and toys.

Robert walked into the room, and Lucifer stepped out behind him as he gestured to Maze behind Robert's back, indicating he was the man they were looking for.

Maze gave Lucifer a grin. "Excellent."

Robert noticed that her eyes weren't focused on him, and turned around to see Lucifer standing behind him. "What the hell man? I'm supposed to have fifteen minutes alone with her!" he shouted. "Get out!"

"Why?" Lucifer asked, leaning in close. "What exactly do you desire to do to Mistress Maze?"

The man swiftly leaned down, lifted his pant leg, and grabbed a small revolver out of his ankle holster. He pointed it at Lucifer's face, and said, "I'm gonna kill the bitch, and I guess I'll kill you too, since you're here."

Clearly unimpressed, Lucifer said, "Well you're not complicated at all, are you? Why did you kill Mistress Wren and her sub?"

"I loved her! I loved her, and I thought she loved me, but she wouldn't stop seeing those fucking pathetic clingy submissives. Like they meant more to her than I did! If I could I'd kill every last one of them."

"My, you're a horrible little man, aren't you? You'll get a special place in hell." Lucifer promised. "Why kill Mistress Maze?"

"She insulted my girl!" Robert said, pointing the gun at Maze.

Maze simply chuckled, and looked at Lucifer. "Can I punish him first? They're no fun after you're done with them."

Robert swung his gun back to Lucifer's chest.

"What do you say Robert? Shall we let Maze have her fun first?"

"I'll be the only one having fun tonight," he said aiming his gun more carefully.

All three of them heard the door next to the elevator open, and Chloe rushed in with her gun drawn, and two officers behind her. "Freeze, police!"

Robert kept his gun on Lucifer, and glared at Chloe.

Lucifer pouted and said, "This is the third time in as many days that you've barged in and ruined my fun, detective."

Chloe ignored him completely and kept her focus on Robert. "Put the gun down now or I _will_ shoot you."

Robert's face contorted in rage, but he knew he was out gunned, so he slowly put the gun on the ground.

Within seconds, Robert was in cuffs, his gun was in an evidence bag, and Chloe could focus her fury on her partner.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" she demanded.

"Catching the killer, obviously," he said, gesturing to Robert. "He confessed by the way. You're welcome."

Instead of being pleased and grateful, the way Lucifer had imagined, his words only seemed to make the detective livid.

Chloe turned to the uniform cops and said, "Read him his rights, take him to the station, and book him. I'll be there to question him after I get statements from these two."

As soon as Lucifer, Maze, and Chloe were alone in his suite, Chloe rounded on Lucifer. "I can not believe you used your bar tender as bait! Do you know how dangerous that was? Both of you could have died tonight, Lucifer!"

"How did you find out what we were doing?" Lucifer asked.

Chloe took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head to keep herself from slapping her partner. His blatant disregard for her fears only served to further piss her off. "Patricia's husband called it in. Apparently he found your post online, and wanted to let the police know about it in case the killer showed up."

"Well, I wish you'd shown up half an hour later." He gestured to Maze and added, "Neither one of us had the chance to punish him for his crimes."

Chloe shook her head and raised her voice. "Punish _him_?! You're the one who deserves to be punished, Lucifer!"

"Me?!" He scoffed. "I just solved the case for you!" He gestured towards the door where the cops had exited.

Chloe's eyebrows went up in shock. "I don't ever want you to solve a case if it means you're going to put yourself, or Maze, in danger in the process! That man had a gun pointed at your chest, Lucifer! If you can't be trusted to show even a tiny amount of self-preservation, then we're not going to be partners anymore."

"Not partners?" Lucifer's expression was more hurt than angry now. "I wasn't trying to upset you, detective, I was trying to help."

Now that Lucifer wasn't being argumentative Chloe tried to calm down a little bit before responding.

During the slight pause Maze said, "I'll punish Lucifer for you."

"What?" both Lucifer and Chloe said in unison, turning their heads to Maze.

"If you think he deserves punishment, I'll do it, and you can watch."

Lucifer glared at his demon and said dangerously, "Watch yourself, Maze."

Unfazed by his warning, Maze shrugged and said, "You know I'm always looking out for you, even if you don't appreciate my methods."

"What kind of punishment?" Chloe asked.

"Detective!" Lucifer protested.

Realizing what she'd just said, Chloe blushed, and tried to figure out why she'd blurted that out. She looked around the room at the BDSM furniture, and Maze in her dominatrix costume, and wanted to blame it on that, but if she was being honest with herself, she knew it was because she was fed up with Lucifer putting himself in danger.

"Spanking," Maze said, keeping her eyes on Chloe. "Not the sexual kind that he likes."

"Mazikeen!" Lucifer protested even more.

The demon turned her glare on her boss, "If I thought you deserved punishment, I'd put you in chains and flog you until you begged me to stop, but Chloe couldn't stomach that."

Lucifer glared at her. "How dare you presume to punish me."

"Not me," Maze pointed to herself. "Her." She pointed at Chloe. "The detective is pissed, and she doesn't want to work with you anymore if you don't start being more careful. I know you want to keep working with her, though I can fathom why, and if she can see you punished, then she'll be able to forgive you." Maze frowned and added, "And she does have a point, Lucifer. You aren't invincible anymore. You need to focus more on self-preservation, especially when I'm not around to protect you."

Getting over some of his anger, Lucifer turned to Chloe and tried to read her expression, since he couldn't make her tell him what she actually wanted. "Is that true, detective? Would seeing me punished help you get past this?"

Chloe shook her head, and opened her mouth to say 'no', but found the lie simply wouldn't come out. Instead she said, "Well, yes, but it would be wrong on so many levels, that I'd never ask you to actually go through with it. You just need to promise me you'll be more careful in the future, and we can eventually move forward once you prove you can be trusted."

With a reluctant sigh, Lucifer turned to Maze and said, "Fine, you're right, she thinks I deserve it. I submit myself to your ministrations."

"No, that's not what I said," Chloe protested, but her statement was ignored by the other two.

Maze immediately walked up to Lucifer, took his upper arm, and hauled him over to the spanking bench. He went without protest, but pouted the entire way. Maze quickly pushed Lucifer's suit jacket off his shoulders and tossed it on the nearby couch. Then she undid Lucifer's trousers, and let them fall to the floor. He wasn't wearing underwear, so she said, "Kick off your shoes and step out."

As he was doing that, Chloe said, "Guys, this isn't something I want to see," but she didn't sound particularly convincing.

In dominatrix mode, Maze said, "Go sit on the couch, detective. You'll have a good view of his backside from that angle, and you'll still be able to see his face."

Chloe found herself following the order, even though her stomach was starting to knot up with a mix of anticipation, and nerves. She knew this was morally questionable, but she told herself they were all consenting adults in the room, and Lucifer wasn't protesting.

"Kneel, and bend over" Maze said to Lucifer, while pointing at the spanking bench's padded ledge that was there for that purpose. He put his knees on it, and leaned forward, resting his upper half on the padded table. "Arms up here." Maze patted the top of the bench, where leather cuffs were attached to the bench. Once his arms were cuffed, she went to his legs, and put the attached Velcro strap across his calves to keep his legs mostly in place. Finally she flipped his shirttail up to expose his naked rear end to the room.

Once he was immobile and ready for punishment, Maze walked over to her toys, and lifted a thick cane from the center.

Chloe gasped and said, "Isn't that a bit harsh?"

Maze scoffed, "This is for the warm up. Trust me, I can say from experience that he'll barely feel it."

Lucifer's head popped up to see what she was holding, and his eyebrows drew together in with worry. "That may not still the case, Maze."

She gave him a wicked smile and said, "Let's find out."

"Maze…" he said with worry.

She went behind him, lined up the cane across the middle of his ass, pulled her arm back, and swished the cane down to snap against both cheeks at the same time.

"Ow!" Lucifer said, clearly surprised by the pain.

Maze looked at his ass with fascination, and ran her hand against the mark she'd left.

"Oh. That's… that's quite unpleasant," Lucifer said as the original sting from the blow turned into a wave of pain that moved though him.

The longer Maze stared at the mark she'd left, the more her brow furrowed into a serious frown. Suddenly she walked over to his head, and put her hand in his hair to force him to look in her eyes. "If a cane can leave that kind of mark on you now, imagine what a bullet to the chest could do!"

With irritation he said, "Yes, well I didn't know if this mortality problem was a one time deal, or a permanent affliction, now did I? It seems to come and go."

She roughly shoved the side of his head into the mat of the spanking bench, and pointed over to Chloe with the cane. With barely restrained anger she said, "You keep your eyes glued on your detective, you count out each stroke, and then you apologize to her for putting yourself in danger after each one." Maze glared over at Chloe and said, "And you scoot over on the couch so you can focus on his face instead of his ass, because if you're looking at the marks you'll want it to end well before he's actually remorseful. You'll be able to see it in his eyes when he's truly sorry, and then you can tell me to stop."

Once Lucifer and Chloe locked eyes, neither one could look away. Chloe found herself scooting to the other side of the couch, not because Maze had told her to, but because she wanted to be closer to him once she saw his worried, almost fearful, expression.

Maze went back to her original position, lined the cane up again just below the first mark.

The sounds of a swish, followed by a crack filled the air.

Lucifer visibly flinched, and let out a grunt of pain, followed by a soft hiss as the pain intensified for a moment before fading slightly. The whole time, he kept his eyes focused on Chloe, and knew without a doubt that while she sympathized with his plight, there was also a large part of her that felt this was deserved.

"One," he said softly, "I'm sorry I put myself in danger."

He felt the cane resting against his skin, just below the new line of fire. Maze had exceptional aim after years of practice, and he knew she could fit a good fifteen to twenty strokes on his lower ass and upper thighs before having to hit skin that was already welted.

The swishing sound made Lucifer flinch before it even landed, and then again after it bounced off his ass. A soft, "Ah," came out of him before he could stop it, and then he closed his eyes for a few seconds, waiting for the pain to subside. He felt gentle fingers going through his hair, and opened his eyes to see Chloe standing beside him.

She gave him an encouraging smile.

"Two. I… I am sorry, detective."

Another stroke had him hissing and holding his breath to wait out the pain. Chloe continued to run her finger through his hair, which he found immensely comforting, even though he wasn't about to admit it.

"Three. I truly am sorry, detective. I didn't mean to put myself in danger."

Chloe frowned at that, and he knew he'd said the wrong thing as her fingers stilled. "Are you seriously telling me that you didn't know it was potentially dangerous to lure a murderer to your home?"

"I'm not usually so vulnerable," he said, trying to explain. "It's difficult to always keep my recent mortality in mind when I'm planning things."

"Maybe it will be easier for you to remember after tonight," she said with a hint of irritation, before looking back at Maze to prompt another blow.

"Ow!" he exclaimed and balled his hands into fists as the pain hit. This time his voice held some heat as he said, "Four. I'm sorry my lack of forethought makes you angry."

"Nope, that one doesn't count," Maze said and struck him again in exactly the same place.

"Aah!" he yelped, and his body tensed as a whole new level of pain ricocheted through his ass, back, and head.

"Don't you dare pull those cuffs out of their sockets either," Maze said. "They were expensive."

While he struggled to get his breathing under control, Chloe knelt down beside him so they were at the same eye level. She continued to pet his head, and gently gripped one of his bound hands in her own. She said quietly, "Your lack of forethought doesn't make me angry, Lucifer, it makes me scared."

After searching her eyes for honesty, he said quietly, "That was never my intention."

"I know," Chloe said with sincerity.

"Count," Maze ordered.

"Five. I'm…" 

"No, that was four again," Maze corrected.

He darted his eyes back to glare at her momentarily, before turning back to Chloe. "Four. I'm sorry I made you fear for my safety."

Another swish and crack sounded as the cane landed right at the crease where his bottom and thighs met.

"Oww!" he cried out, and had to work very hard at keeping himself over the bench, instead of breaking the metal fastenings that held the cuffs in place.

After several seconds, he calmed down enough to look Chloe in the eyes. "Five. I am truly sorry for making you worry, and for not taking my safety into account."

The next stroke landed across his upper thighs, and an undignified high-pitched squeal came out of Lucifer's mouth before he clamped it shut and groaned as the pain washed over him. He felt his eyes fill with tears of pain, and made sure to look at Chloe in the hopes that she would call an end to his suffering.

"Six. I swear I'm sorry, detective."

"Sorry you're getting punished, or sorry you did it?" Chloe asked.

His eyes darted away from hers for a moment, and then returned. "I can't say I'm sorry I caught the killer, but… I am sorry I didn't call you as soon as I saw him."

She nodded and said, "That's a good start."

A new line of fire slashed against his thighs, just below the last one, and Lucifer let out another loud yelp of pain. He took a deep breath and closed his watering eyes for a few moments. When he felt he could talk without a strain in his voice he opened his eyes and said, "Seven. Please believe me when I say I'm very sorry, detec… Chloe."

She was silent for a few moments, thinking that over. He certainly did sound sincere, but the use of her name seemed more like a ploy to escape rather than genuine remorse.

Before she'd made a decision, the cane slapped down on his thighs again.

"Aah!" he yelled, and his body writhed for a few moments, unintentionally pulling at the restraints.

"Eight," he said, and his voice hitched as emotional tears mixed with the tears of pain. "I'm sorry! I promise to be more aware of my safety in the future. Please, Chloe, I'm sorry."

Chloe turned to Maze and said, "That's enough."

Maze looked at the damage, and said, "If you say so. I'd have gone for two more myself, but it's your call."

Chloe leaned in and kissed Lucifer's forehead. "No. No more."

Chloe could feel the tension leaking out of Lucifer's body once Maze walked over to her table and put the cane down. Silent tears continued to roll down his face, as Maze took the strap off his legs, and then uncuffed both of his wrists. Chloe took her hands off him, and stood up straight.

Lucifer slowly pushed himself upright with a wince and a hiss. He slowly and carefully stood up, and put both hands back to gently feel the damage. "Ow," he said pitifully as he felt the multiple ridges, and tried to look behind himself. "It's so sore," he muttered. He turned around and lifted his shirt for Chloe to see. "Does it look as sore as it feels?" he asked.

She gasped and put a hand over her mouth as she looked at the mess of welts, and purple bruising all over his ass and thighs. "Oh my God, Lucifer… it's awful. I'm sorry. I should have stopped it sooner." She turned her glare on Maze. "That's way too much."

Maze rolled her eyes, "Says the vanilla girl. Trust me, Lucifer could have taken more, and he definitely deserved it, because that…" she pointed to his ass, "…is way less painful than a bullet. Besides he heals quick."

Both women turned to Lucifer, but he was too busy trying to see his own ass to notice. He did a little circle to trying to get a better view of the damage while hissing with each step.

Feeling too guilty to smile at how silly he looked, Chloe said, "You should probably put some ice on that to keep the swelling down."

He nodded. "Maze, will you fetch me some ice, while Chloe helps me get settled in bed?"

"No sex," Maze warned, "or the lesson won't stick."

"Trust me, that's the furthest thing from my mind right now," Chloe said.

Maze went to the bar for ice while keeping her eyes on them.

With a somewhat pathetic expression on his face, Lucifer said, "Help me to the bedroom?"

"Sure." She went over and offered a shoulder. He put his right arm around her, and the two slowly made their way to his bedroom, with him grunting and hissing every few steps.

Once they made it to the bed, Lucifer yanked his button down shirt off before carefully crawling onto the bed, and lying face down with a contented sigh once he was done moving.

"Will you get my socks?" he asked, lifting one foot.

Again she still felt too guilty to smile at the almost nude man's request, since his very painful looking backside was fully on display.

"Sure."

Once both of his socks were off, he said, "Better. Sit with me?"

She looked at her watch and said, "I really should get back to the station and question Robert."

Lucifer lifted his head and pouted at her. "Please? Just for a few minutes."

Unable to refuse him, she nodded and sat down next to his head.

He closed his eyes and said, "Will you run your fingers through my hair again? It was… surprisingly comforting during the punishment."

She did as he asked, and he sighed with contentment. Three minutes later when Maze came in with two small bags of crushed ice, Lucifer was asleep.

Chloe's fingers stopped mid motion when she saw Maze, but the other woman just smiled at her, and gently set one ice bag on each bruised ass cheek.

Lucifer whimpered in his sleep, and Chloe started petting him again until he settled.

"I should really go do my job," Chloe whispered to Maze.

"Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on him until morning," Maze whispered back. She lay down next to Lucifer, and the man reached out and tugged her close and nuzzled into her shoulder.

Chloe's eyes opened wide at that, and then blushed. "I should leave you two alone."

Maze rolled her eyes. "It's not personal. He doesn't even know it's me. He snuggles with anyone who shares his bed."

Feeling suddenly more jealous than she'd been in a long time, Chloe made herself stand up. "Tell Lucifer I said to take the day off tomorrow to recuperate since it's Friday. I'll talk to him Monday morning."

"I'll try, but if he wants to go in and see you, and my guess is he will after tonight, I won't be able to stop him."

"Well, tell him that it's going to be a lot of sitting down to do boring paperwork unless we get another case. That should keep him home."

Maze chuckled. "I'll tell him."

Chloe smiled at the other woman, and then forced herself to leave, when she really wanted to lie down and feel Lucifer snuggle into her instead of Maze.

# # #

The next afternoon, Chloe was shocked to see Lucifer walk into the precinct with a smile on his face.

"Morning, detective," he said, and set a cup of coffee in front of her. "Did you get a confession out of the murderer?"

Chloe looked at the clock and said, "Morning was over half an hour ago, yes I got a confession, and didn't Maze give you my message?"

He plunked down in the seat across from her, and Chloe's eyebrows went up in shock.

"Yes, yes, boring paperwork," he said. "I don't plan to stay long."

"Are you…" she leaned in closer and looked around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard, "Are you high?"

"Unfortunately, no, why do you ask?"

"Twelve hours ago you could barely walk, and now you're sitting without so much as a wince?"

"I'm mostly healed."

"I find that very difficult to believe, Lucifer."

He smiled and leaned in even closer. "Would you like to inspect me for bruising, detective? I'm happy to let you see my backside anytime you want. Or my front side for that matter."

She leaned back and scowled. "No, that's okay. I'll take your word for it." She did know that he'd healed from his gunshot wound at a slightly unbelievable rate, so why not from this as well.

"If you're not here to help with the paperwork, why are you here?"

"Well, I wanted to bring you this lovely coffee," he gestured towards the paper cup on her desk, and then it was his turn to lean closer to her before saying, "And Maze said I should thank you for… well for looking out for my wellbeing."

She saw an adorable little blush stain his cheeks, and had to smile. She patted his hand and said, "Just remember I'm looking out for you _before_ putting yourself in danger next time."

"I'll do my best," he said with a grin, and then stood up. "On that note, I'll leave you to your paperwork."

"Are you sure you don't want to help?" She asked, holding out a stack.

He pulled out a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and said, "No time, detective. I have to call the woman from the coffee stand and set up a date. Lovely red hair and green eyes should never be taken for granted."

She watched him go with a smile, glad to see he'd fully recovered from last nights ordeal, and then tried to focus back on work.

The End


End file.
